


I Knew a Wolf (Come Through the Gates with Iron Tongue)

by stardustgirl



Series: Full-length Fics [14]
Category: I Am Mother (2019), Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Dark, Disturbing Themes, Heavy Angst, It Gets Heavier As You Go, Light Angst, Phoenix Nest Discord, This Is Very Dark Just A Heads Up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-05-14 05:51:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19267108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustgirl/pseuds/stardustgirl
Summary: “This man doesn’t care about any future but his own.  He’s very dangerous.”Father’s voice is calm, cool, collected, as always.A sharp contrast to the freezing feeling of the jagged shard of tile the ponytailed man is holding to his throat as they back up to the airlock.|~~~|Son has lived with Father his whole life—been raised by it, been taught by it.  The robot, and the bunker they live in, is his entire world.  Until someone from the contagion-infested outside arrives.AnI Am MotherAU.(Tags will be changed as needed.)





	1. Prologue—Genesis

**Author's Note:**

> Watch the movie before you read beyond the prologue unless you want spoilers please and thanks.
> 
> Title from “The Wolf” by The Sweeplings.

`UNU-HWK_REPOPULATION_FACILITY`

`DAYS_SINCE_EXTINCTION_EVENT:_ **0 0 1**`

`HUMAN_EMBRYOS_ON_SITE:_ **6 3 , 0 0 0**`

`CURRENT_HUMAN_OCCUPANTS:_ **0 0 0**`

 

* * *

  

_It turns on._

_It knows what it must do already without being told._

_It goes to the embryo chamber._

_And picks one._

* * *

_When Son first awakens, he is small._

_That will change._

* * *

_It takes several tries to figure out what music Son likes to fall asleep to.  It takes several more to figure out how to get him_ to _fall asleep._

* * *

_Son likes origami-making._

* * *

_And reading._

* * *

_And questioning._

* * *

“Why aren’t there any more children, Father?”

_Son’s voice is quiet, curious, non-confrontational.  Its sensors record all of this before it answers._

“There used to be.  Before the wars.” _It walks to Son and sits._

“I don’t wanna be a human,” _Son says out of nowhere._

“Why is that?”

“They ruined everything,” _Son says, leaning his head against its arm.  Son pulls its arm towards himself in what it recognizes as a gesture of familiarity, of comforting oneself._

“Humans can be wonderful,” _it replies, turning its head to look down at Son._

“Then why did you only make one?”

* * *

_It takes Son to the room the embryos are stored in.  Son peers through the door, curious._

“Go ahead.  Take a look.”

“My brothers and sisters are in those?”

“Would you like to meet them?”

_They enter the chamber.  It opens one of the storage columns, steam hissing out as the embryos rise in their miniscule pods._ “They’re small now, but one day, they’ll be as big as you,” _it says, the pods slowing to a stop._

_Son squeezes its hand tight, looking up._

“Do you think I’ll have a brother, or a sister?”

“Which one would you like?”

“Both.” _Son returns his attention to the embryos, opening another storage column as it looks down at him._

“A big, big family, all together.” _It pauses as the embryos slide to a stop._ “Would that make you happy?”

_Son nods, voice small but not scared when he answers._ “Yeah.”

“That would make me happy too.” _It does not know what happiness is, outside of the human usage of the term._

“Why couldn’t we be born together?” _Son looks up, gaze concerned and confused._

“Fathers need time to learn.” _It returns its gaze to the embryos._ “Raising a good child...it’s no small task.”

“Do you think you’ll be ready soon?”

“Perhaps.” _It closes the storage columns as Son takes him by the hand and leads him to the door._

“And then we can be a family?”

_Son reaches up to activate the door, watching it slide open with wide eyes._

“We are a family.”

“A big family, I mean.” _They walk through, and the lights in the chamber turn off silently._

“Eventually.”

 

* * *

  

`DAYS_SINCE_EXTINCTION_EVENT:_ **1 1 , 6 9 6**`

`CURRENT_HUMAN_OCCUPANTS:_ **0 0 1**`


	2. Chapter I—The Mouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About half of this dialogue is directly from the movie, which is significantly better than the prologue lol.
> 
> TW: Blood Mention, Serious Injury Mention, Implied/Referenced Animal Death

The power shuts off.

Son starts, blinking in the near-dark and looking around before grabbing his torch and clicking it on.

“Father?” he calls softly.

No answer.

He gets out of bed and walks to Father’s charging station.  The gargantuan robot is plugged in, drawn-on “tattoos” barely visible in the darkness.  The dim lights that usually blink in a regular pattern on the robot’s chest are now dark; only one remains on and it’s static.  But he doesn’t respond to Son’s call.

“Father wake up!  Father!?” Still no answer.

Swallowing, Son heads down the hall.

The emergency lights are a vivid blue, blue enough that it hurts to look at them too long.  He makes his way through the corridors, swallowing heavily as he adjusts his grip on the torch.

He finds the culprit soon—a wire, chewed by something.

Something _alive._

He sets a canister with crumbs on the floor, with the open end next to the opening underneath the counter.  He grabs it and slips the lid on when the mouse walks in. Son holds it up, grinning.

“Did you do this?”

The mouse is silent, cleaning its whiskers, and it makes him grin all the more.  He sets it down to fix the wires and then sits, holding it up again.

The power comes back on only seconds after he sits.  Son rises, taking the mouse and his torch to greet Father.

“ _Son?!_ ”  He meets him halfway to the rows of beds.  “ _The power went out._ ”

“It’s okay,” he assures Father.  “Look.” He holds up the mouse.

Father takes it.

“ _Did you touch it?_ ”

“No, but wait, what if it’s from outside—“

“ _It could be a carrier,_ ” Father cuts him off, stalking away from the endless rows of beds.  Son follows, hurrying to keep up as Father arrives at the incinerator.

He opens it.

Son only watches, numb.

* * *

Son finishes folding the dog, setting it next to the cat and the turtle.  He sighs, propping his chin up with a hand as he studies the animals. There’s five he’s made so far today—the cat, the turtle, the swan, the giraffe, and now the dog.  A faint smile flickers on his face as a distant memory of Father teaching him how to make the dog surfaces.

The smile fades when he remembers that dogs don’t exist anymore.

Sighing again, he grabs a piece of bright yellow paper and folds it, trying to remember how to.  It’s been a long, long time since he’s made this one.

It’s twenty minutes later when he’s finally done, proudly setting the newest animal with the others on the table.  He pushes the giraffe more into line, his former smile returning.

He hears Father’s clunking footsteps down the hall and looks up, smile widening as the robot approaches.

“ _Which ones did you make today?_ ”

He approaches, stopping at the edge of the table, and Son points to the line of animals.  “A cat, a turtle, a swan, a giraffe, a dog—“

“ _Is that one a mouse?_ ”

He pauses, hesitating before he nods.  “Ye– yeah.” _Like the one I found last night,_ he leaves unspoken.  Father seems to be able to tell, however.

“ _You know I had to dispose of it.  I could not risk you getting infected._ ”

Son nods, gaze dropping to the paper mouse.  “Yeah. I know.” As he studies it, Father picks it up, inspecting the origami creature for a moment.  Son doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath until the robot puts it down behind the dog, pushing it back into the line.

* * *

“ _Imagine a doctor has five patients who need organ transplants, but no compatible organs are available.  One day, a sixth patient with a life-threatening condition enters the office. The new patient is curable, but also an organ match for the other five patients._ ”  Son stares at the holograms as Father sets up the scenario.  He’s done these a million times—and a million times, he realizes that there are always different answers.

“ _If the doctor simply delays treatment, the new patient will die, but their organs could be used to save the other five patients.  If the doctor treats the new patient, one life will be saved, but five others will be lost. What is the doctor’s best course of action?_ ”

Son is still stuck on the new patient.  What kind of person are they? Good? Bad?

“ _Son?_ ”  He blinks.  “ _What is the doctor’s best course of action?_ ”

“I...uh….”

“ _Did you do your reading?_ ”

“Some,” he admits, gaze flicking down.

“ _We could select a different text, however your birthday_ is _rapidly approaching and it would be a shame if your scores failed to meet the projections generated by last year’s examination._ ”  Son nods in agreement.

“I understand, Father.”  Father stares at him a moment longer before seeming to acknowledge him, returning his attention to the problem at hand.

“ _The fundamental axiom suggests that a person should select the course of action that will minimize the pain to the greatest number possible.  Now, consider that you are the doctor, and also the only organ match for your patients. What do you do?_ ”

“Well, do I _know_ these five patients?” Son asks.  “Are they good humans—honest, dishonest?  I, a life-saving doctor, might be giving my life to murderers or thieves.  People who might end up harming more people due to my sacrifice.”

“ _You don’t feel that every human has intrinsic value, and a right to life and happiness?_ ”

Son stares blankly at Father before his gaze drops to the desk.

* * *

“What if your measurements are wrong?”

Father looks up from the opposite side of the table as Son sets down the fork.  “ _Excuse me?_ ”

“What if– what if it’s safe to go outside now, and– and your measurements were incorrect, you should just go check at the least—“

“ _Doing so would make me a hazard to_ _you._ ”  A beat.  “ _I’d have to be destroyed.  Are you unhappy here?_ ”

“No, but—“

“ _I_ want _you to be happy here._ ”

“No, it’s just—“

“Have you ever known me to be mistaken?”  Father’s voice is firm, unwavering, filled with an intensity he’s rarely heard, and yet he still understands what it means when it’s like that.

Son shakes his head.

* * *

He wants to see where the mouse was again.

He waits until Father is halfway through his recharging cycle before going to the quarantined airlock.  He waits outside for several minutes before inhaling sharply and pushing through the plastic.

He finds the wires that the mouse chewed through and crouches, shining his torch underneath where the mouse had been.  Son frowns in thought, reaching a hand out to trace the opening.

There’s a knock.

Son jumps, heart thumping against his rib cage as he sits up.  There’s silence. And then knocking again.

He scrambles to his feet, breath coming in short heaves.  Inexplicably, he finds himself going to the airlock.

He stops outside the outer chamber, staring through the window as he removes the shielding window from the outer one.

There’s someone out there.

There’s a trail of blood, some dried and some fresh, leading down from his forehead.  Grime covers his face. His hair is pulled back into a ponytail, half loosened and hanging around his shoulders.

He’s _human._

Son turns, rushing to the hazmat suit across the room and pulling it on before returning to the airlock.  Breathing in sharply, he presses the controls to open the inner door and enters the outer chamber.

The man pounds on the door again before jumping, as if seeing Son for the first time.  He blinks, pounding on the metal again and shooting a glance over his shoulder before looking at Son again.

“Please,” he calls, voice barely audible.

Son shoots a glance behind him before nodding to the man outside.  He retreats to the inner chamber and strips the hazmat suit off, tossing it to the outer chamber’s floor before shutting the inner door.  Son opens the outer chamber and the man stumbles in, gasping for breath as he turns to watch the outer door close behind him.

“You have to put the hazmat suit on first!” Son calls.

The man’s eyes widen and he hits a fist against the window.  “I can’t waste time like that, I’ll die!” he calls through, nearly spitting.  His eyes are wild with an expression Son’s only ever seen in movies and shows—fear.  Terror.

Yet somehow, he knows it.

“I’m here alone, co—“

Alarms.

He’s just now registering them and glances over his shoulder.

The man stares at him for another moment before he finally starts putting the suit on, and Son breathes a sigh of relief.  It’s on in seconds, though the man cries out in pain several times. Son gets a quick glimpse of the wound before it’s gone, but it’s enough.

“Well, what’re you waiting for?!  Let me in!” he calls. Son hesitates, glancing back again.

“Father.”

Something in the man’s eyes changes slightly and his tone gains an urgency.  “He doesn’t need to know, just– just let me in, I only need to look at the shot—“

“I’ll do what I can, but you need to keep out of sight,” Son interrupts, because now he can hear Father’s pounding footsteps approaching at a run, the metal on metal clang like a second, more frantic heartbeat of the ship, preceded only by the alarms.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The door opens.

Father enters, and Son turns, quickly striding to meet Father halfway.

“I only opened it for a sec—“

“ _Did you think that_ suit _would keep you safe?_ ”

“I didn’t go outside—“

“ _That does not excuse your disregard for my authority or for the safety of the others in this facility._ ”

Father walks to the terminal, shutting the alarms off.

“My actions were impulsive, I’m sorry, Father.  I should’ve watched myself better. It– it won’t happen again.”

The robot turns, sensors trained on him for a long, long moment.

“ _No, it won’t,_ ” he says finally.

“ _Come, Son.  I hope you show better discretion than this on your exam._ ”  He strides past Son, leaving the teen standing in the center of the room, lost.

Father stops at the doorway, waiting for Son to pass him.  He follows Son out.

* * *

“ _You have sixty minutes to complete the first portion of the exam.  If you finish before I get back, you may read._ ”

“Wait, hold up, where’re you go—“

“ _I have lab work to complete, and I must see to the airlock._ ”

As soon as he’s sure Father’s gone, he rushes back to the airlock, opening it and entering.  The man is on the ground now, limp. Dead, maybe. He circles him, frowning as he notices the pack on the floor next to him.  He crouches, opening the pack and removing...a gun?

“Hey,” he whispers, nudging the man.  “We have—“

The man wakes with a start, gasping for breath and rolling away.

“Bandages?  Antiseptic?” the man asks.  Son shakes his head.

“Not yet.  But soon. I need you to come with me.”

He nods, moves to get up.  He starts to take his gas mask off.

“No, wait—!”

It’s already off before Son can do a thing, and now the man is looking at him oddly.  “You’re fine, yeah kid?”

“How are you unaffected by the contagion outside?”

The man’s gaze becomes stranger and more suspicious still.  His voice is slow when he responds, moments later.

“ _Who put that in your head?_ ”


End file.
